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Paul A Sweeney

Lakeville, Pennsylvania

October 30, 2003

Age

Military

Rank

Unit/Location

Army

SSG

3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Died Oct. 30 of wounds sustained during an ambush near Musa, Qalax, Afghanistan.

DATE POSTED: OCTOBER 31, 2003

PRESS RELEASE: Special Forces Soldier killed in Afghanistan

U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Oct. 31, 2003) — A Special Forces Soldier was killed Oct. 30 when his unit was ambushed while on patrol north of Musa, Qalax in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Paul A. Sweeney, 32, a Special Forces communications sergeant assigned to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) here, died of wounds sustained in the attack.

Sweeney, a native of Lakeville, Pa., deployed with his battalion to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Combined Joint Task Force-180 in September 2003. He joined the Army in July 1991.

Sweeney, a French language specialist, earned the Special Forces tab and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.

His previous awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, and the Parachutist Badge. He was a graduate of the Primary Leadership Development and Basic Noncommissioned Officers courses and Basic Airborne School.

Before joining Special Forces, Sweeney was previously assigned as a Bradley Fighting Vehicle crewmember at Fort Lewis, Wash., camps Casey and Humphreys in the Republic of Korea and Fort Hood, Texas.

In September 2000, he attended the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course and went on to attend the Special Forces Qualification Course, completing the Special Forces communications sergeant’s course in 2001.

He is survived by his wife, Kristen, and two sons, Ryan, 3, and Sean, 2. His father, Thomas Sweeney, lives in Kissimmee, Fla., and his mother, Janet Bowen, resides in Lakeville, Pa.